


The Arms of the Damned

by Look_Left



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Prompt Fic, Religious References, Superstition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-11 21:37:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4453310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Look_Left/pseuds/Look_Left
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There a few who know that the Devil is real and in Hell' Kitchen. </p><p>That does not mean they are defenseless for they have holy water and crosses. </p><p>Or</p><p>The one where people think Matt really is the Devil and try to ward him off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fear and Faith

**Author's Note:**

> For this prompt: http://www.dreamwidth.org/go?redir_type=threadroot&journal=daredevilkink&talkid=7205790

The Devil lurked in many places and his evil spread. The Devil does not kill; he tempts and causes all the world’s ills. Take a look at the Bible, at the Book of Job. He tempts and takes the opposite role to God. His full role is not known but he will drag your soul to Hell. He will find you and take you. 

What deal with God he has enacted can only be guessed at. The Devil has taken human form this time and hunts criminals like dogs on the heels of a fox. He hunts sinners and leaves them for the police, hunts them down for a greater cause. 

The stench of sins clings so heavily to Hell’s Kitchen it appears God himself has forsaken the souls of the lost. The Devil could bet that he could coax Hell’s Kitchen’s lost to salvation where God has failed. He bet that they cannot be saved.

That is the leading theory at least for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. 

Most men would say he is a man but this is age of super heroes, aliens and gods. It is not absurd to realize that among these signs, of heralds of doom, demons have slipped by unforeseen. Demons including the Devil himself in the form or body of a man, the Man in the Mask, AKA Daredevil. 

At first men assume he is another man. He is a man taking to the streets like the Avengers and heroes of comic books. He is a man turning to fight the corruption like Batman without the technology. How foolish they all were.

Wasn’t the Devil’s greatest trick convincing the world he wasn’t real?

Soon they remembered, slowly, but surely, the truth spread. 

In the hiss of a voice in the dark -“I can smell him on you! Where is the boy!” in the darkness of an abandoned building with no power. In a room so dark not even the night vision goggles picked up any ambient light. 

Underneath a car a body was pulled out screaming.

In the screams of men whose bones were broken in almost the whispers darkness. 

In the deep laughter of deception being wiped away by its king. 

“Lying cat lies.” A bone twisting. “Try again.”

“I don’t know!” A deep well of laughter.

“You do.” 

You could not hide sins from the Devil.

That did not mean that they were weaponless against him. 

As the tales and voices spread the news among the miscreants of Hell’s Kitchen, its villains began to arm themselves. 

They began to arm themselves with the weapons of God.


	2. First Stike

The Devil stalked Hell’s Kitchen along its dark paths. He creeped along the roof of an old warehouse. His footsteps are silent and he can hear the hum of the few lights in the building, in a corner a burnt out candle smolders. In minutes he changes the game. 

He can hear the murmurs of the criminals as clear as if they were next to him. He tunes out their conversation for a moment and focuses on the hum of electricity centered at the fuse box. He hears it calling to him like a muted Gregorian chant. In an instant the power ceased flowing into the warehouse and the rooms were swept in darkness. 

In an instant he's in through the roof. A club strikes one of the men, knocking him back away from the hostage. Daredevil feels the body heat of the room's occupants. They call to him like beacons in the ever present dark. The hostage is cooler and her heart is fluttering like a humming bird's wings. She is a woman who was important to their aims, he doesn't know why. 

“It’s the Daredevil! Get ready!” One of the men yelled. He heard one of the men scream. Matt threw himself, reading himself for guns and knives. He prepared to strike-He did not expect t be doused doused as the unexpected hum of back up lights came to life in the moment. (How had he missed those?. 

He jerked back in surprised as the cold liquid (water, his mind supplied) hit his face and entered his mouth. He began to spit in an instance as he shifted his stance. 

“Be gone, DEMON! In the name of Jesus!” What? Demon?

“Hit him again! Hurry! Go! Run!” This time a bottle hit him, breaking and splashing him with more water. He flailed back, from the damage, ready to take down the first crony to approach him. The body heat and hearts beats around him resonated at him and *left*. He felt stunned as the criminals ran out of the room, leaving him, alone and wet, with the hostage. 

“What the fuck?” He thought wondering why they threw water of all things at him. He turned toward the hostage. The woman screamed as he got closer to her and undid her bonds. 

“DEVIL!” She screamed, hysterical and began getting away from him. Okay….wait was she flashing the cross at him? He couldn’t make out the exact gesture in her flurry of heat signatures her arms sent out. What was going on? 

“Ma’am, you’re safe.”

“DEMON! BE GONE! I AM INNOCENT!” 

All right. She apparently didn’t need him. He disappeared in a display of athleticism that would leave Foggy breathless from sympathy fitness envy. Daredevil, Matt, grumbled on the roof and checked his burner phone. It seemed okay and beeped when he pressed a button, this was really something he needed eyes for. 

A piece of glass was caught in one of the folds of the suit. He shook it off. He didn’t see the fragment of the cross printed on the section of the bottle. He made his way to the next crime, readying himself for battle once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unknown to Matt, new whispers spread through out Hell’s Kitchen:
> 
> “Holy water worked! Can you believe it? It held him off!”
> 
> “God, I wasted so much money on bullets. God, I don’ t have a priest.”
> 
> “You can get it online, man. I got mine off Amazon.”
> 
> “Shit. Who has Prime?”


	3. Foggy Figures It Out

Matt growled as he brushed the glass off of his costume once again. 

He didn’t know what was going on. This was the absolutely most ridiculous thing that was happening and that was saying something given the fact that losing his sight gave him absurd senses. Foggy swept the glass away from him. He glared at his friend. 

He could hear Foggy’s grin even before he started to speak to him. 

“So, buddy, you want to tell me what’s with the wet cat impression you have going on?” Matt glared where he was reasonably sure Foggy was. 

“Don’t look at me. I was intending to stop a crime and was doused by buckets worth of water. Then I had several bottles thrown at me. This is the third night in the row with that same syndicate.”

“I think I have your answer, actually. I took a bit of snooping on my own. Nothing dangerous, don’t get your panties in a twist, Matt.’ Foggy said. “I did some research online.”

“And?” He said, wondering if he should have looked himself. The syndicate was fairly new, it stood to reason they would use public resources ‘against’ him. 

“Right. You’re never going to believe it.”

“What?” He demanded because he was starting to get tired of getting wet, which was still better than shot at but he would appreciated neither. 

“It seems people believe you’re the Devil?”

“What? You’re lying.” He said incredulously. 

“Really, Mr. Living Lie Detector? I’m lying about people thinking you’re the actual, honest to God, Devil?” Foggy’s heartbeat was steady. 

“Shit. You’re not lying.”

“Nope. Apparently enough people were caught lying by you and your amazing blind powers have people convinced you are a demon, if not the Prince of Darkness himself.”

“This brings a completely new meaning to the meaning that the Murdocks have the devil in them.”

“Yeah. Funny isn’t it.” 

“You think I would have figured that out- Oh my God. Foggy. I think I broke several crosses.” 

“See, demon or devil. Whatever. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t figure this out sooner.”

“I still get shot at. I thought it was just an odd gang.” He thought about the woman who called him a demon. “The clues were there.” He conceded.

“You’re losing your edge, Murdock. You sure you graduated with honors?” Matt glared and shook his costume at Foggy. His friend sputtered and backed away. He fell onto the couch.

Better. 

Well, except for the Devil thing.


	4. Father Lanthom Suffers

It was seven in the evening and the streets were oddly deserted. Tommy ran down the alleys into the main street. He heard the Devil behind him, landing on one of the many fire escapes the damn city ordinances demanded. The man couldn’t believe he was being chased by the Devil himself. 

Tommy had thrown holy water at him and that had slowed the Devil down but honestly how stupid had he been? Of course the Devil himself wouldn’t be stopped by holy water alone. It just kept him at bay but this wasn’t a freaking movie. 

He looked ahead of him and spotted a church. Oh God, please have mercy! He thought and hoped to God that the church was still active, concentrated ground. Could the Devil enter?

Did such a thing really exist? Didn’t the Devil go to Heaven in the book of Job? He thought hysterically as he spotted the Devil less than ten feet behind him. The Church. He had to reach the Church, he had no other option. He felt a burst of adrenaline. 

He passed the gates but didn’t stop until he reached the door. It was locked. He began to bang on the door. 

“Please! Open up! Please! You have to open up! He’s going to get me! The Devil is after my soul!” He banged what felt like forever. Tommy stopped when he heard a dark laugh behind him. He froze and turned. 

The Devil was right there. He was in the churchyard, several feet from him. He wasn’t stepping onto the church’s foundation but he was simply staring at him with those empty black voids. Tommy couldn’t have been staring for more than a few seconds when the door to the church flew open. He didn’t bother see who had answered he stumbled in. 

A priest. He all but screamed;

“Father! The Devil is behind me! I beg for sanctuary! Please! He’s after my soul!” The father glanced outside and nodded. 

“My son, go to the pews. I will cast out the demon from the threshold.” A dark laugh came again, sickeningly amused by it. Like a lowly priest could cast the Devil out. “Yet he will only leave if you confess yourself, not only to God but to man. Justice-“

“I will! Please-“ 

The priest stepped outside and Tommy knelt among the pews. His legs shook and he felt the terror of the flames at his back still present. He glanced out to the door and heard nothing. He shuddered. What if the priest was not enough? 

He prayed. 

Outside the church Father Lanthom was glancing at Daredevil with a weary look. “This is the sixth time this month.” Daredevil shrugged. 

“They run in this direction. I’m not herding them.” 

“Well I would like a warning if possible to at least prepare. I never imagined I would be offering sanctuary to several criminals. This is not the middle ages.” 

“I know, Father. I am sorry.”

“I wish they didn’t think you were the Devil. It feels almost blasphemous.”

“I don’t know how the rumor started. I think it’s a bit late for that now but Hell’s kitchen is safer since the criminals have started to wield crosses instead of guns. I think I even had a Star of David thrown at me last week. I’m not all that certain. I wanted to take it to Foggy but it seemed disrespectful.”

“I cannot imagine what is going on in their heads. My entire stock of holy water was stolen last week.”

“Who steals holy water?” He asked incredulously. “Holy water, wow.”

“Yes, now if you excuse me. I must go and console this man.”

“Of course, Father. Do you wish for me to stay?”

“No, they go freely now into police custody. It seems the prospect of hell frightens them more than man.” 

“I will see you later, Father.”

“Goodbye, take care.” Daredevil smiled and disappeared into the shadows. 

Lanthom entered and saw the man praying, his head bowed. 

If any good came from this, he thought. It was that some men were freely returning to God or what they knew of Him. 

He believed Matthew. He did not start the rumor of being the Devil. God had his ways and perhaps Matthew was serving a greater role than just stopping criminals in Hell’s Kitchen. 

God worked in mysterious ways after all.


	5. Fisk and Futility

"The Devil cornered me at a church. God was I lucky the priest was there."

"Wait is this the church on -" a tray slammed down on the table near him. Fisk missed the street then concentrated again. 

"Yeah!" 

"Do you think that- I know it sounds crazy but that we were led there by an unseen force?" 

"We have to be. I mean a lot of us went to churches but this one always seems to have the priest present." 

"He's the reason I converted to Catholicism. He got rid of the Devil and really helped me." The conversation continued along with what was the best place to buy holy water from. 

Fisk was bemused and decided to keep listening for several days. At the end of the month he had put created two groups of people brought in by the Man in the Mask, aka Daredevil. There were people like him who firmly believed he was a man and would like to put a bullet in him. Then there were people who thought he was the honest to God Devil. 

The second group had started appearing a few months ago, but they had composed so few numbers that Fisk dismissed them as mentally ill. Now it seemed to be the common thread between them all. 

The information angered Wilson. He had fought the man. Deliberated with him. He had fought his destruction. The man was not a demon! How had the *Man*, the MAN in the Mask (he refused to call him the Daredevil or Devil or Devil of Hell’s Kitchen) cultivated the reputation in such a small time? 

How he literally surpassed the boundaries of human limitation? 

His temper boiled until one day Wilson couldn’t help himself. He rounded the group of men discussing Daredevil

“He’s a man! He’s not a demon! I fought him! I fought him and *won*. Crosses and rosaries and prayers are useless-“

“Yeah, then why are you here?” one of them goaded. 

“Yeah, Fisk. We didn’t get our assess handed to us like you. We survived because we used our wits to keep it from happening.”

“Yeah, I mean it’s probably your fault the freaking DEVIL is in Hell’s Kitchen.”

“I fought him and I won.” He repeated. “Tell me, did you use guns? Did you have him run from you because he was injured?”

“Did you use a gun?” 

Fisk was silent. “No. I fought him like a man. With my hands.”

“See! You knew on some level that it would be useless.” 

“Yeah.” Came the chorus of agreements. Fisk screamed and ran off. 

“Fisk fought the Devil and won?”

“Man he must be really evil.” He heard before he worked on his temper.


End file.
